Cherry-faced meadowhawks, Sympterum internum, were flying in tandem over the mud of a small drainage ditch yesterday. There were four or five pairs in this small area and a couple of solitary males.
The same species is very common this year, and exhibiting similar behavior over the wet areas of my reconstructed prairie.
Dragonflies and Damselflies of the East, by Dennis Paulson, states that they often drop eggs “persistently at one spot, and usually collecting in clusters.”
Today I went back, hoping to find the same activity, and possibly to photograph some eggs. I found no pairs, and only a couple of solitary males.
I looked around in the mud, hoping to find some eggs. I didn’t. But then, I don’t really know what they would look like, either.